


One life to live (But I would spend nine with you)

by IzzN2Punk



Category: Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types
Genre: Because its really just a guy and a cat, Blues is a little whiny but that's on brand tbh, Canon Compliant, First Meetings, Gen, Just a story about how a boy met his favorite cat, Not Beta Read, Not dialogue heavy, Slow To Update, Tango is best girl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:01:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27545776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IzzN2Punk/pseuds/IzzN2Punk
Summary: The story of how everyone's favorite wayfareer got adopted by a cat.
Relationships: Blues | Proto Man & Tango
Comments: 10
Kudos: 16





	1. A Not so Stormy Night

By all accounts, it should have a dark and stormy night. The night sky should be covered by thick, angry stormclouds, blocking off any light from the moon or the stars. The howling wind and the pounding force of heavy rain should have masked the sounds of anyone unfortunate enough to be caught out in such brutal weather. Frankly, Blues felt like he deserved a dark and stormy night, but unfortunately for him, any rain that would happen today had stopped shortly before sunset, leaving a thick humidity lingering in the air.

If he had been human, a storm would have been unideal but since Blues didn’t have to worry about getting sick, it wouldn’t have been much of a hassle. A little water never killed him, but the humidity was dreadful. The heavy air left him warm and slightly dizzy and panting for breath as his core burned angrily in protest from the pressure in the air. It was frankly embarrassing, which was another reason Blues wished it had been a stormy night, as nobody would have been outside to watch him stumble around on his recently injured leg.

‘ _Humans are so nosy,’_ Blues internally grumbled. ‘ _You tell them you’ve lost a chunk of your leg fighting a war-mech and they think you’re about to fall apart!_ ’ Blues didn’t like attention, especially when it meant someone thought he should get repaired. It was insulting how little faith anyone had in him to fix himself up after a fight as if Blues hadn’t spent the majority of his life on his own! Well, there was always his core, but there wasn’t much to do about that and Blues couldn’t let a small thing like impending death keep him down, he had to stay in the present!

‘ _Speaking of the present, that building should be somewhere around here._ ’ Abandoned buildings were a little rarer on the nice side of town, but it was always a treat when Blues found one to squat in. Nicer buildings meant nicer shops for him to steal from after all. The building in question had apparently been a decently sized restaurant in its day, but when Blues had passed it earlier, he had the feeling it hadn’t been occupied in a long time. It was roped off, any paint that had once existed had long since peeled away, and part of the roof had recently caved in, but Blues figured he didn’t look much better, so as he finally found it, he just focused on climbing the fence without tearing anything. Creaking the rusty door open, Blues peeked into the abandoned building. It was mostly barren, with screws and a few shopping carts, probably left by former squatters, and a pile of rubble from the part of the ceiling that had caved in.

As Blues made his way inside, he appraised his surroundings. The screws were worthless, but the shopping carts might be a good place to store his armor or supplies, at least until he could swipe a nicer backpack than the stitched up one he had anyway. The rubble was bad, but aside from that, Blues didn’t really have a problem with his new make-do home.

“Mrrrr-ow! Mr-ooow!” Screamed the rubble pile. Blues blinked, not sure what could be making such a ruckus, and slowly crept around the pile, slinging his backpack around one of his arms. If he was about to be attacked, he might as well be able to reach his armor quickly. Blues considered himself exceptionally careful, so as he rounded the rubble and felt something jab at his foot, he darted backward and hunched himself over defensively, something he felt embarrassed for doing when he realized his unexpected company. Lodged awkwardly in between the debris was a large, green cat, with red eyes, and yellow markings on its head, ears, and paws. It was a puzzlingly large robo-animal, Blues estimated it was around the size of a savanna cat, much larger than the typical robotic cat, and its armor was marked with dust and was beginning to rust, a sure sign that it had been on its own for a while. It was strange that such a clearly customized robot was left neglected, but Blues tried not to linger on it, especially since the cat had spotted him and was now screaming louder.

Seeing no reason to keep the poor thing waiting, ~~(and hoping that if he helped it he wouldn’t have to deal with anymore screaming)~~ Blues took a tentative step forward. The cat eyed him warily, ears folded back, and fangs bared threateningly.  
“Easy there tiger, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Blues said soothingly. “I just don’t want to hear your howling all night, and I figure you’d prefer being free from this junk, wouldn’t you?”  
As he started moving the rubble away from the cat, he ignored the spitting and the jabs at his legs and feet. Blues would usually have swiped at the ungrateful creature himself as a quick warning, but the cat really did seem afraid of him, so he tolerated the stinging claws. He had been making good progress when he noticed a noticeably large cat collar amongst the debris. It was recently torn, but the tag was mostly too faded to read, and there was only one thing Blues learned from it

“Hmm, so you’re a female Miss kitty cat? I guess that makes sense, you’re quite the fighter.”  
Blues was reminded a little of Roll and Kalinka, who had been just as fiercely angry when he had first met them, although considering the circumstances of the time, they had every right to be angry at him. He wasn’t all that sure either girl liked him now, but they did seem to have shifted their anger in the direction of Blues’ nonchalant attitude about his health. He never knew how to handle their piercing looks, and so he mostly didn’t, keeping in touch with them as much as he kept in touch with anyone, which wasn’t much. The cat was definitely similar in her anger, but even as Blues finally was able to free enough rubble that she could scurry out of the pile, she remained as hostile as before, darting a few feet away, hissing and spitting at him.

Blues couldn’t find it in himself to be offended and only laughed at the cat. “What, no thank you for your savior? Well, at least we can be out of each other’s hair, you can go now.” The cat gave one last spat in Blues’ direction, before scurrying off into the dark. Blues unexpectedly felt a pang of sadness at seeing her go, although he was able to nip that feeling in the bud easily enough. After all, it was best for Blues to be alone, the less anybody cared about him, the less anybody would be sad when his core fizzled out. So without any further ado, Blues found a spot he deemed to be not entirely filthy and laid out on the floor of the old building. It was a hot, humid night and his backpack was as bad of a pillow as it always was, but even though Blues had wished it could have been stormy, he couldn’t deny he enjoyed being able to watch the moon through the broken ceiling.

As he slept that night, a pair of gleaming, red eyes watched him.


	2. The Cat-Burglar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I hate writing Dr. Wily. He's a great character, but one that's hard to pin down.
> 
> Anyway, time to oppress Blues.

_ Blues was being watched. Flickers of light danced in and out of his sight, and Blues clenched his eyes shut in order to shut out the unwelcome light. His thoughts raced through his disoriented, buzzing mind as he struggled to understand his current situation. He shouldn’t be here… Wherever ‘here” was, anyway. _

_ “Hmph, finally awake, are we? I was almost worried that all my work had been for nothing.” _

_ At the sound of the voice, Blues was suddenly alert, his eyes shooting open to greet the looming face of Dr. Wily. He instinctively jerked away, but he found he didn’t have enough strength to move anything other than his head. Wily’s eyes narrowed angrily at this reaction but he seemed to be surprisingly unfazed, and only snorted disdainfully. _

_ “You have nothing to say to the man who saved your life? Not that you’ve ever been thankful for anything I’ve done for you, you wretched little backstabber.”  _

_ As Wily spoke, he walked over to one of his worktables, rooting through his tools as he complained to his unwilling audience. _

_ “I gave you a new core, a purpose, an opportunity to claim revenge on Thomas! All I asked of you in return was your loyalty and cooperation, and you betrayed me! I don’t even know why I bother with you…” _

_ As Wily continued rambling, Blues tuned him out, trying to muster up the strength to move. He had to get out of here, get away from this mad man, but his body was unresponsive and he could barely find enough strength to twitch his fingers. Inside of him, Blues felt his core flickering softly, like a lightbulb fighting to keep a spark, and his panic increased tenfold. His core had been replaced so recently, he shouldn’t be… _

_ “...And you’ve already burned through the core that I gave you! You weren’t made to be running around on your own like some petulant squatter, and you know that! I put my time and energy into reviving you from your deathbed and you go leaping back into it!”  _

_ Dr. Wily snapped bitterly, as he inspected a screwdriver. He eyed Blues disdainfully. _

_ “Then again, making others miserable has always been something you excel at, isn’t it? You could ask Dr. Light or Mega man if you wanted to know that.” _

_ Blues flinched at this but managed to croak back a retort.  _

_ “Do you really think you're one to talk? You've spent years trying to take over the world because you're jealous of someone who used to be your only friend!" You're just a bitter old man, too caught up in his own resentment to do anything useful with his-" _

_ A sudden jolt of pain spasmed through Blues' body, the pain fizzling out the desire to do anything but curl up into a ball and wish that dying was a less agonizing process. Blues bit down the scream that was rising in his throat, but couldn't prevent a low moan from escaping, which Wily was quick to notice.  _

_ Blues waited for a sneering remark, but it never came, the mad doctor approaching him with what seemed to be an expression of slight pity. _

_ "I've always known what I am Proto man, which is more than you could probably say for yourself," Wily said, pulling a few tools out of a toolbox that Blues stared at with growing unease. "I always thought I knew what you were too, although your recent behavior has been baffling to me." _

_ Wily's gaze turned from appraising his tools to appraising Blues, watching critically as the robot twitched weakly. _

_ "You were always a horrid machine, angry and vengeful about your circumstances, but I understood your feelings, I sympathized with you! We were both angry, mistreated souls, and so I decided to give you the chance to do something with your life! You had no problems attacking your brother, kidnapping that Cossack girl, tearing people's families apart because you were bitter and jealous!" _

_ Blues was almost glad that he couldn't speak, he felt heavy with guilt and shame. Regardless, he did his best to glare cooly at the man before him, but as Wily tapped a screwdriver against Blues' chest experimentally, he couldn't help but freeze up in terror. Wily was looking thoughtfully at Blues' upper body but still spoke to him. _

_ "You and I have always been alike, and maybe that's why I never bothered trying to ensure your loyalty to me. It was sentimental to think I could trust you." _

_ Blues had been so fixated on the tools in front of him that he was caught by surprise when he felt a hand underneath his neck, close to the switch that would manually shut him down. _

_ Blues desperately tried to thrash his head, but what little of his head he could move was quickly stilled by Wily's hand. Blues felt his head be tilted so that he was staring at the cold face of the doctor.  _

_ "Rest assured Proto man, I will not make that mistake this time." _

_ And with that, Blues felt himself start to fade as he felt a pressure on his neck, and as he fought to thrash, or scream, or beg, he felt like he was falling. His body seemed to plunge into the darkness underneath him, as the light faded away. _

* * *

With a solid thud, Blues' head hit the floor, and he hissed in pain. In an instant, he was on his feet, drawing himself into a defensive position as he reached for his bag, which he had been using as a makeshift pillow.

…Which wasn’t there, as it was currently in the mouth of the green cat he had saved earlier. It was too heavy for her to pick up, and so the cat had only dragged it a few inches away, where she was now staring at Blues with wide, alert eyes. Although relieved to not be in danger, Blues was irritated at being woken up by the cat-burglar, and still shaken by his nightmare. So with what was probably a little bit too much anger, Blues made a swipe for the bag, grabbing the bag forcefully. 

Although clearly still wary of Blues, the cat refused to give up the bag, and with a muffled hiss she tried to pull it back out of his grasp.

“This is my bag you stupid cat! I saved your life yesterday, you can’t just steal from me!”

The stray only responded by tugging harder, arching her back in an attempt to scare off Blues. As the two fought over the backpack, the battered, old zippers opened to spill the contents of the bag out, Blues’ armor and E-cans clanging as they hit the floor. Upon seeing this, the cat let go of the bag and darted forward, grabbing an E-can in her mouth and using her robotic strength to jump to a rafter.

Blues hurriedly scooped his things back into his backpack and zipped it up. Afterward, he turned to glare at the cat.

“When I called you ungrateful last night, I didn’t mean it as an excuse to steal from me! Give my E-can back and go away.”

The cat barely even flicked her ear in response, batting at the E-can with focused intent. Blues snorted, putting his backpack on. 

_ ‘No good deed goes unpunished, does it? I’ll have to find a way to keep her from stealing my bag, especially since it has my armor in it. I guess I’ll need to go out and get supplies today, so maybe I can get something heavy to put in it at night. _ ’

It wasn’t a bad idea, but Blues grimaced. If he made his bag too heavy at night, he’d need to get a pillow too, and Blues felt bad about stealing things he didn’t need. He could try out this plan, but the idea of having to fend off a thieving cat for the week or so that Blues would stay at this building was frustrating. He stole another glance at the cat, which was still batting at the E-can, seemingly trying to open it. As mad as he was at the cat for stealing from him, Blues felt a pang of sympathy for her as well.

_ ‘She’s clearly a stray… probably abandoned if that collar I found is any indication, and likely low on energy.’ _ Blues spied a mettaur helmet in the corner of his eyes. 

_ ‘But I might be able to use her need for energy to get her to leave me alone’ _

Looking around, Blues found two blocks of cement, and after pulling the blocks close together, he propped the Mettaur helmet upside down. Turning to the cat, which was now staring at him with a tilted head, Blues called out to her.

“Alright cat, I’ve got a deal for you. It’s pretty obvious that you need energy, and I have the means to give it to you.” Pulling his backpack over, he unzipped it and pulled out another E-can. The cat’s ears pricked upon seeing it, but Blues held a finger up.

“I can give you the energy you need, but I won’t do it if you try and steal my bag. For every time you take it from me, I won’t give you this-” Blues paused to open the E-can and pour its contents into the makeshift bowl. “So I think you’ll pick up on leaving my stuff alone pretty quickly.”

Blues had no idea if the cat understood what he was saying, but she was staring at the bowl, the tip of her tail curling slightly. Satisfied, Blues pulled his backpack back on and made his way out of the building. He had things to do, and he figured that whether the cat took his bribe or not wasn’t his problem.

_ ‘Besides, I’ll only be here for about a week.’ _ Blues thought good-naturedly to himself.  _ ‘After that, I’ll never have to deal with this cat ever again!’ _

**Author's Note:**

> Please go easy on me, I don't really write haha


End file.
